FERNHURST.- A bronze sculpture by the daughter of Gustav Mahler, consigned from the estate of the composer’s great champion, is up for sale at John Nicholson’s of Fernhurst in Sussex on January 31.

Anna Mahler (1904-88), the Vienna-born younger daughter of the composer, lost her father when she was just six years old. Her mother Alma married the German architect Walter Gropius, but also had a relationship with the artist Oskar Kokoschka, whose studio gave Anna her introduction to the world of fine art.

Finally establishing herself as a sculptor, Anna won the Grand Prix in Paris in 1937, going on to sculpt the heads of leading figures in music, such as Arnold Schonberg.

Married five times herself, she lived in Hampstead in London from 1939, moving to California after the war before returning to London in the mid 1960s and then spending the last 20 years of her life in Spoleto in Italy.

Liegende (lying), a stylised bronze reclining figure, above, which measures 13 x 17¾ x 11¾in, and is offered at £10,000-£15,000 in John Nicholson’s sale, is from the estate of the late Donald Mitchell (1925-2017), the musicologist, critic and founder of Faber Music who was a champion of Gustav Mahler, Anna’s father, as well as a close adviser of Benjamin Britten.

A former prep school teacher, Mitchell became the founding professor of music at Sussex University in the early 1970s before holding a number of other eminent academic posts.

With homes in London and Sussex, he also acquired Chapel House in Horham, Suffolk, once the country bolthole for Britten and his partner and musical collaborator, Peter Pears.